Expression of breast cancer resistance protein and p-glycoprotein in residual breast cancer tissue after chemotherapy and its correlation with cancer stem cells

Objective: To compare the expression differences of breast cancer resistance protein (BCRP/ABCG2) and P-glycoprotein (P-gp) in breast cancer tissue before chemotherapy and in residual breast cancer tissue, and to explore its correlation with breast cancer stem cells. Methods: Immunohistochemistry was used to detect the expression of ABCG2, P-gp, and breast cancer stem cells (BCSCs) markers (CD44 and CD24) in breast cancer tissue before chemotherapy and residual breast cancer tissue after chemotherapy. Immunofluorescence was applied for determination of the CD44 and CD24 protein expressions of BCSCs microspheres cells. The monoclone-forming ability of BCSCs microspheres cells was detected by limited dilution assay. The expressions of ABCG2, P-gp, CD44, and CD24 proteins were detected by Western blot. Results: Compared with those in breast cancer tissue before chemotherapy, the expression levels of ABCG2 and P-gp were positively correlated with the expression level of CD44 protein (χ2 = 41.34, r = 0.83; χ2 = 22.81, r = 0.61) in residual breast cancer tissue after chemotherapy; meanwhile, they were negatively correlated with the expression of CD24 protein (χ2 = -21.25, r = 0.72; χ2 = - 17.26, r = 0.65) (all P < 0.05). The diameter of BCSCs microspheres were increased significantly after chemotherapy. The content of BCSCs increased by about 2.5 times after chemotherapy. The expressions of ABCG2, P-gp and CD44 proteins significantly increased and that of CD24 protein significantly declined (P < 0.05). Conclusion: Chemotherapy endows residual breast cancer tissue with cancer stem cells-like feastures, leading to multidrug resistance of breast cancer.